Upon Reflection
by Katamabob
Summary: "With a swift 'Lumos' she lit the tip, throwing an odd, shifting light over the mirror." When Rose Weasley discovers the Mirror of Erised, practically dragged from her bed by an excited Lily. For the 'Mirror, Mirror' challenge.


_Disclaimer:_ Not mine, I'm just not that brilliant. Or old enough ... :P

**Upon Reflection**

"Rosie, you have to come! Quick!"

Rose groaned loudly and ignored the sharp whisper in her ear. She turned over onto her side and tried to fall back asleep.

"Rosie!"

"G'way," she growled.

"But, Rosie! You _have_ to see!" Her arm was grabbed and she was practically hauled from her comfortable, her warm, her _beautiful_ bed. She just managed to untangle a foot from the sheets in time to prevent herself from falling onto the stone floor. She stood up woozily, before opening her tired eyes slightly to glare at her younger cousin.

"What, in the _name_ of _Merlin_, could you want at," she glanced at the clock, before hissing, "_two in the morning?_"

"You have to see something!" Lily whispered back excitedly. "I found – no, I can't even say, you have to see it!"

"If you're not even going to tell me what it is you want to show me, then let me go back to sleep!" Rose said huffily, still glaring. She could feel herself waking up properly now, which was a bad sign. She'd never get back to sleep, she was sure. Her glare intensified.

Lily was practically dancing on the spot with excitement and exasperation.

"Come _on_, Rosie! I can't explain... Me and Al –"

"Al and I," Rose corrected automatically.

"_Al and I _found something! It's like... a mirror, but completely different! Well, it _looks_ like a mirror, but it's more!It's, it's... I don't know! _Please_ come?"

"No," said Rose, firmly, struggling to quell the curiosity welling within her. "You're not making any sense. I'll go look in the morning. Now, for heaven's sake, _go back to bed_."

Lily looked very disappointed. "But it's... it's only two floors down in an old abandoned classroom. It would take only twenty minutes to get there, Al knows a shortcut. It's in that classroom where Firenze used to teach, until Lysander began yelling about Nargle infestations and Aunt Luna came and asked Firenze if he wouldn't mind moving classroom." Her expression became slightly amused. "Firenze just likes Luna. I don't think he'd have moved for anyone else. Then again, perhaps if Al asked him he might... He likes Al. It might be because he's named after Albus Dumbledore, or maybe 'cause he looks like Dad, but then again …"

Rose just stared at her. Lily was ridiculously easy to distract.

"Lily," she said, slowly. "I'm going back to sleep. Go to bed. I'll talk to you in the morning. I have a test tomorrow."

"But –"

"No."

Lily pouted slightly, but Rose remained unmoved. Lily then sighed theatrically and, ever so slowly, shuffled out of the room.

One of the other occupants of the dormitory, who Rose had presumed to be asleep, groaned. "Next time you see your cousin, tell her I hate her."

"OK," Rose agreed, climbing wearily back into bed, silently cursing Lily.

She didn't fall asleep. Every time she closed her eyes, a mirror, large and ornate, filled her mind. _A mirror, but not exactly a mirror_. What did that even _mean_?

Lily was silly.

She finally broke at 6am. Autumnal light was starting to creep through the slightly-open hangings around her bed. She growled to herself in frustration. She had not slept a wink. She sat up quickly and shoved on her slippers – unfortunately they were fluffy weasel slippers. A poor joke from her Grandfather Granger, but she brought them with her to school anyway because they were soft and warm and her mother refused to buy her a new pair when she already had _these_ – and threw on her dressing gown.

She could go and look at the bl– the _stupid_ mirror and then go to sleep for an hour.

Rose was exactly the kind of person who censored her language even in her own mind.

As she slipped nervously through the dark corridors, terrified of running into a teacher – while in her weasel slippers, no less – and cursing Lily with every step.

When she finally reached the classroom – she remembered it well, because of Lysander's repeated warnings of the hazards of Nargle infestations – she looked around nervously before twisting the handle and slipping inside.

The classroom was covered with dust from two years without use, but she could clearly see a track of footprints on the floor, no doubt created by Lily and Albus, and illuminated by the crack of light from the open door.

Grass covered a small patch of the stone floor in one corner, no doubt missed in a hurried clean-up of the strange forest-like Divination room. Other bits of woodland debris littered the ground in places, which included leaf mould near the door. Rose wrinkled her nose slightly and stepped further into the room, shutting the door quietly behind her.

The room, its high windows covered by heavy black drapes, was pitch black. Rose quickly drew her wand and, with a swift 'Lumos!' lit the tip, throwing an odd, shifting light over the mirror at the back.

She realised that the light was shifting and shivering because her wand arm was trembling slightly. She made an effort to still it and edged forwards. The light reflected into her eyes through the mirror as she got closer, and she squinted, but couldn't see.

Then she was right in front of it, the light shining brightly into her retinas, blinding her. 'Nox,' she whispered, hoping to dim it, rather than extinguish. But the light flickered – and vanished.

But not before she got a quick glance into the mirror, which seemed to keep the light just a second longer, and saw …

She shrieked in fright and leapt backwards, before whirling around in panic. But she still couldn't see anything.

"I can't _believe_ you!" she yelled at the people she knew to be hidden behind her, ready to scare her in the dark. "Turn on the light _right now_."

There was no answer. She growled into the shadows.

"Lumos!"

There was no one there. She held her wand up higher, confused, and suddenly scared.

"Where did you go?" she whispered to the empty room. None answered.

She turned back to the mirror, but once again her vision was obscured by the painful brightness of her light.

She looked around the room and, feeling suddenly incredibly alone and frightened, moved into the corner to grab was looked like it might be a candle.

It was the stub of one of the earthy-smelling candles favoured by Firenze, but it appeared old and slightly cracked.

Rose moved back to her place in front of the mirror and, keeping her eyes down, gingerly lit the candle with her wand, and whispered 'Nox'.

She slowly moved her eyes up to look into the mirror and, in the soft candlelight, saw her own eyes looking back at her, but shining with happiness. Rose raised a hand to her own face, which remained shocked and terrified. Her mouth was hanging open, her eyes wide, her nostrils flared in panic, her hair curly and unmanageable.

The girl in the mirror was smiling, her hair was hanging around her face in beautiful red curls and she looked... pretty.

The girl in the mirror was happy, and the reason was clear. Around her were Weasleys, many of them, the whole large family. And they were talking and laughing, occasionally joking with the girl who looked so much like Rose, yet so different. She would turn her eyes briefly from Rose to smile at them, sharing in their good humour. Lily and Albus were by her side, beseeching her join them on an adventure.

It was a beautiful image. Rose almost couldn't bear to look at it. She turned to look behind her again, but there was still no one. These Weasleys only existed in the mirror. These people who loved Rose, joked with Rose, wanted her company.

But what was sad, truly upsetting, about the image was that these Weasleys _did_ exist outside the mirror. They were there, she saw them every day, most of them. They laughed, they joked. Only Rose was different, always alone. But the real Weasleys gave her chances. They often tried to offer her acceptance. Her family loved her.

The only problem was Rose. Rose, who couldn't let go of herself, of her inhibitions, her rules, her insecurities. Who pushed them away. Lily and Albus wanted to go on adventures with her, Albus had tried for years until Lily had come to keep him company during night-time wanderings. Lily still tried, tried to show her things, make her have fun.

Eyes suddenly rather watery, Rose forced her gaze to the edge of the mirror, and examined the intricate designs. And read the words at the top.

_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._

Nonsense, as far as she could tell, or else some long forgotten language that had no relation to any she'd seen. It had no base in Latin, Greek or Chinese. It wasn't Celtic or Arabic either. It just looked like... gibberish.

But whatever was written, she knew what the mirror did. It showed what you wanted, what you wanted most in the world, however much you wished you didn't.

What she wanted was to be someone she wouldn't ever be, couldn't ever be. Someone carefree, likeable, social.

A true Weasley.

She sat there a long time, staring into the eyes of her other self, feeling envy and anger, as well as a deep self-pity, pounding in her head and forming tears that coursed down her cheeks.

She sat there, alone, hating her clothes, her hair, her personality and even her intelligence. Everything that made her different from the others, everything that made her Rose Weasley.

"Rose?" a voice whispered in the darkness.

Rose blinked, realising that her candle had long since burned down and a sort of twilight existed in the room, small bits of light creeping in through cracks in the heavy curtains.

She turned to see Lily standing in the open doorway.

"Lily," she said, her voice cracking slightly and hoarse from dust and suppressed tears. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to find you," her cousin answered, entering the room and shutting the door quietly. "You weren't at breakfast, and you said you'd come with me in the morning. I waited for you." There was a hint of reproach in her voice, but her eyes were filled with worry and concern. "Are you all right? Why did you come without me?"

"Sorry, Lily," Rose answered, turning back to the mirror and surreptitiously wiping her eyes off her sleeve. "I couldn't sleep. I was … curious."

"You should have just come and got me, then. I wouldn't have minded."

Rose stared into the mirror and didn't answer. The reflection continued to mock her. Then she felt arms closing around her from behind, and a head resting on her shoulder.

"I wanted to come with you, to have an adventure. But I suppose this works too," Lily said, grinning up at her.

"Lily, please, I'm fine," said Rose firmly, trying to pull away.

"I know," said Lily, sounding surprised, but pulled away.

Rose hesitantly smiled, but could feel her mouth trying to pull down at the corners. The mirror kept catching her eye.

"So, strange mirror, right?" said Lily conversationally a little while later, also looking at the reflective surface, but appearing speculative rather than upset.

"Yeah," agreed Rose, awkwardly, hoping Lily wouldn't ask about what Rose saw. "The writing at the top is weird too. It doesn't seem to be a real language..."

"Oh, it's just backwards," said Lily, shrugging slightly.

"What?" Rose couldn't believe she could have missed that. She turned to stare at the mirror and, slowly, read out the mirror-writing. "'I show not your face but your heart's desire'. How did you know that?"

Lily shrugged again. "It was written on a mirror," she explained unnecessarily.

"I thought it might be a foreign language or something..."

"I don't really know any foreign languages. It just seemed... obvious."

There was a reflective silence after that.

_Your heart's desire_.

"What did you see in the mirror?" Rose asked eventually. She knew it was quite a personal question, and it might lead to her having to reveal her own upsetting realisation, but she found that she desperately wanted to know.

Lily looked somewhat embarrassed, though. "Well... you have to promise you won't tell Al, or anyone else …"

"Of course." Rose was surprised, though. Al and Lily were very close, and she couldn't imagine what Lily could tell her that she wouldn't want to tell Albus.

"And you can't laugh!"

"I won't, I promise!"

"Well … I saw you and me, on an adventure. Like … best friends." Lily looked down and began shuffling her feet. "Or, or... studying, even. Doing things that best friends do."

"What?" asked Rose, confused. "Why would you see that?"

"Because ..." Lily looked even more embarrassed, and rather upset, "because you're Rose, my amazing and smart cousin. I always wanted us to be best friends, because I always have so much fun with you, and you give such good advice …"

Rose didn't say anything, just stared at her.

"And, and, I know you don't always want me following you around and everything, because I'm just a little first year and everything, but I saw it in the mirror and I thought, just this once, we could go on an adventure and the mirror would be right and ..." Lily trailed off. Then, in a voice of false nonchalance and cheer said, "But anyway... what did _you_ see?"

Rose blinked a few times, still staring at the young girl... and then smiled. "You know what? It doesn't really matter." Then she added, "And I've never minded you following me around."

"Really?"

"Really. Come on, let's go get breakfast."

"Um... more like lunch, by now …"

"Well then let's go and... wait, what? LUNCH?"

"Yeah, you've been here quite a while and it took me a little while to find you and -"

Lily was cut off by Rose rushing past her towards the door and then out into the corridor. Lily stood there, gaping, for a second before sighing sadly and turning back to the mirror. But then a hand grabbed hers and she turned to see a still-panicked Rose.

"Are you coming or not?" she demanded, and Lily grinned happily before she was dragged forcibly to the library.

But, despite spending the entirety of lunchtime locked away in the library, catching up on a missed Potions test, Rose felt an odd warmth as she looked up to see Lily swinging her feet happily beside her and staring out the window when she was supposed to be studying for Charms. If Lily still wanted to be there, beside her, even when there were no adventures, jokes or pranks afoot, no stories being told, then maybe it wasn't that bad, being Rose Weasley. She mightn't be the funniest, the most adventurous, the calmest, but maybe she was someone worthwhile anyway.

* * *

**A/N**: Done for Dear. Dark. Destiny's 'Mirror, Mirror' Challenge. I was given Rose Weasley, of course. I had fun with it, though I always preferred writing Lily (which might show, given her inclusion in the story...). But still, I think it turned out OK, though I would have preferred to edit it more. I just ran out of time :P Please tell me what you think!


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